Electric Ambulances to Roll Out in East Midlands

The East Midlands Ambulance Service in England is getting ready to add electric ambulances to its fleet. Starting in early 2027, the service will receive 33 electric vehicles that will be converted into working emergency ambulances. The move is part of a national NHS program, and the goal is to make all new ambulances zero-emission by 2030.

The electric ambulances will not all arrive at the same time. They will be added slowly, working side by side with the diesel ambulances already in use. Leaders say this careful, step-by-step approach will help staff learn about the new technology and figure out what kind of support the vehicles will need.

Cara Turton-Chambers, the service's head of sustainability, described the new ambulances as 'box van conversions.' She said they look a little different from other ambulances in the East Midlands, but are very similar to electric ambulances used by other services across the UK. On the inside, she said, they are not very different from what crews already use.

One big question with electric vehicles is how far they can travel on a single charge. In the area where the new ambulances will be used, vehicles currently travel about 85 miles a day on average. The service believes this distance should be within the range of the electric ambulances, but staff are still testing them to know for sure.

Turton-Chambers explained that driving an ambulance is very different from driving a regular car. The way ambulances are driven — with sudden stops, fast speeds, and lots of equipment running — is almost the opposite of what helps save battery life. Because of this, the team is still working to understand the real range of the vehicles in real working conditions.

To keep the ambulances charged up, the service plans to install rapid chargers at ambulance stations and hospitals. These chargers could refill a battery to full in about 30 minutes. Ambulances will also be charged during natural breaks throughout the day, so they are always ready to respond to emergencies.

The service is very focused on making sure an electric ambulance never runs out of power on the way to help a patient. Turton-Chambers called this a 'never-event scenario' — something they are planning very carefully to prevent. Just like a diesel ambulance would not be sent out if it was nearly out of fuel, an electric ambulance will not be dispatched if its battery is too low.